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Message: <blockquote data-quote="prongbuck" data-source="post: 7984918" data-attributes="member: 54809">For me, the title of this article says it all: Worlds of Design: Rolls vs. Points in Character Building. There isn't much room for debate here; when building characters fairness and equality is a requirement, random rolling is not a valid option (edit: I realized this came off to strongly of course there is room for debate, everyones table is different so of course its debateable.).I read an article years ago that put into words something I knew but had never fully realized, that when it comes to creating player characters for an RPG ,there are two main methods*: character generation and character building.Character generation is sitting down with no, or very few ideas, about the character. You let the dice guide you and do the deciding for you. You randomly roll your stats, 3d6 in order perhaps, you see where your strengths lie and then you select or roll for a race and class. If picking race and class then you have the option of selecting a combination that enhances your strengths or maybe tries to mitigate your weaknesses.This is my preferred method. I prefer total random attribute generation but I think most types of players need the ability to exercise at least a small level of control over their characters attributes so we generally now do 3d6 in order and replace your chosen classes primary ability score with a 15.For my table, I make it clear the character generation method will include inequality in the characters and everyone participating has to be ok with this. It helps if the game system supports this through things like a compressed range of attribute bonuses, low or no requirements for races and classes, etc.Character building is coming to the table with a character concept in mind. You don't want random generation for this because random results usually mean a players concept is thrown out of the window whn their rolls don't allow them to build the character they envision. There isn't much more to say about this method because its fair, you pick an array of attributes or spend points as you see fit and every character is equal at the attribute level.All this boils down to is that the method you choose has to support the game you want to play and has to work for the players at your table.*There are other methods of course, games without attributes or where attributes are determined based on other selctions of traits, race, class, etc. but I am assuming we are talking about D&D like games here.</blockquote>

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